The Beginning/The End

This is the end of "hey! it's jenna's blog"

I haven't written in here for over a year and it has been weighing on my mind. I know a few people read what I have to say in here and I have gotten a few questions about when I'm going to write more. For the past eight (!!!) years, I have recorded what is going on in my life, my ups and downs, thinks I find amusing and anything else I feel like.

After Grammy passed away, a lot of things changed in me. I just didn't feel like putting anything in here. I lost my interest and infatuation with writing.

But I feel the stirrings again. I want to write again.

But not here.

I started this blog on November 14, 2006 as a way to chronicle my time in the Americorps National Civilian Community Corps. Back then I had been a college graduate for one year, had never spent a significant time outside of Oregon, still didn't like coffee, and had no idea what being a grownup was all about. I documented my journeys in Americorps, both my two years with the NCCC and my year in Boston as a VISTA with Jumpstart. I continued writing on a somewhat regular basis with anything and everything I felt like writing.

Eight years later, the jenna that is writing this post today is a very different person. I have traveled across the country, helped hundreds of people, gotten sucked into credit card debt on top of realizing I am going to be paying off a student loan for a degree that I am not doing anything with, gotten a job and have held it for now almost three years, drink coffee at a level that is borderline addiction and have had to navigate losing a loved one and dealing with that as an adult. A few weeks ago I made my final leap into grownuphood by taking out the rest of my things from The Momma's house. The jenna from 2006 would not recognize the jenna in 2014.

So, how do I close this blog? I have been pondering that for a few months. Then on July 12 I knew that the end would bring me back to the beginning.

I was in Sandy for the Sandy Mountain Festival, which I hadn't been to in years. I was at The Momma's house when she mentioned that she read an article in The Sandy Post that an Americorps team was in Sandy working with the AntFarm, a local non profit and the team was from California. I asked her if she remembered what team it was. I dug the Post out of recycling (http://www.pamplinmedia.com/sp/68-news/226673-89085-california-team-of-seven-lend-hands-at-antfarm) and find that it was Green 7. Holy crap, I was on Green 7 during Class 13, and this Green 7 was from Class 20!!! That day I went to the cafe that the AntFarm runs and I introduced myself to the team leader and the one corps member that was there, telling them that I had been a corps member on Green 7 in Class 13 and a support team leader with the silver unit for Class 14. We chatted about our times in NCCC and I asked questions about who was still on staff in Sacramento. It was their last day working and they would be heading back to Sacramento in the next few days and then their 10 months of service would be over. I wish I would have known that a NCCC team was going to be in my hometown, I would have tried to meet them sooner.

My first thought after meeting part of Green 7 is how much I would have been disappointed to have gotten a project in my hometown in Americorps, but that is just because I was looking to explore the country. Then I thought back to this blog. When I began the blog and my Americorps journey, I had no idea what to expect from the world. I was given the rights and responsibilities of an adult, but I had no clue how to be an adult and face the new and unknown. Many people who knew me only from that time in my life could attest to that, I'm positive. Those experiences in Americorps helped me, and at times forced me, to grow. While things in the past eight years were unpleasant at times, I have grown so much and have become a much better person from those experiences.

So I am ready to start the next new chapter of life and close the last few chapters, which I have come to realize is why I cannot write in this blog anymore. There is nothing more I can add to it - the story  for those times is finished.  This will be a reminder of how my life was and how I've grown. When I'm old and gray (or, older and grayer), I will be able to look back at this blog and relive these experiences (or try to remember them, anyway).

Please don't get me wrong. I am not done writing. Never. I will let the readers of "hey! it's jenna's blog" know where my next blog will be once I have it set up.

I will end this post and this blog with a few of my favorite quotes...

"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good." - Minor Myers

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later." - Mitch Hedberg

"May every sunrise hold more promise, and every sunset hold more peace" - Blessing

"When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do? Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." - Dory, "Finding Nemo"

Just keep swimming, friends. 

Love, jenna ann